Warning!

Do not fall for this: http://www.barkender.com/ which I found by following a link from this web site: http://www.gotbarking.com

Those of us who have been tormented by barking dogs know the feeling of desperation very well, but paying for a letter to a barking dog owner is not necessary.

You can find samples of such letters here: http://www.guruhabits.com/noisy-neighbors/ and some good advice to follow when composing the letter. And if you need help composing your letter or finding your animal noise ordinances, I'm sure there are many people who are willing to help for free. Or you can leave a comment below this post and I'll help you.

Neighbor Speculates: barking dogs drove man to kill

While tragedies like the ones in the article below are never amusing or interesting, there was a comment made by some neighbors near one of the crimes that is relevant to our barking dog problems:

"In Phoenix on Saturday, a pharmacist described as paranoid, angry and depressed methodically shotgunned his next-door neighbors — a grandfather, his daughter, his son-in-law and his grandson — and then killed himself. The family's two dogs also were killed, and neighbors speculated that their incessant barking caused the disturbed man to kill."

The entire article itself is not about barking dogs. In fact, it's very sad and is more about the serious dysfunction of our society in general. But, if you wish to read it, here is a link to the entire article on MSN News:

http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/making-sense-of-four-families-slain-in-four-days

Another Barking Dog Web Site

I haven't posted for quite awhile because of other problems I've had over the last year or so. My barking dog problem improved greatly after the 2nd citation/court hearing, and during the following 6 months I was eventually able to begin sleeping more hours at a time without waking up in a panic every hour or so, but it took several months to get to that stage. Then, unfortunately, the barking resumed again (I'll talk about that later) although not as bad as the first few years. However, it's still annoying, and the entire experience has left me very unhappy and hating my home. I no longer have any interest in my yard, which I'd worked diligently over the years to turn into something I could enjoy with many flowering plants, shrubs, trees...all being taken over by weeds now. And then, to top it off, like things couldn't get any worse, I had spray foam insulation installed in the house in the hopes of making it easier to cool the house during the summer and reduce our exorbitant utilities bills...and I was also hoping it would cut down on the noise that entered the house, but the spray foam made me very sick and so I had to move to an apartment until the problem with my house was resolved. So now my bills are even higher... Initially, living at the apartment was great, much quieter, no barking dogs....in my immediate vicinity, that is...until one of my quiet neighbors moved and was replaced by, yep, some folks with a little dog with a piercing voice that shrieked continually every time they left. The problem was resolved rather quickly as there were other neighbors who complained also, particularly the people who live downstairs under the dog, but it's amazing how the barking of a dog will so quickly send me into a panic now, and a sort of a regression back into the state of depression that was so deep during the years I had to listen to the horrific day and night barking at my house. Sigh. Actually, my nerves are totally shot from those years of terrible barking and no sleep, and my body does not handle even normal stress like it should, like it used to.

But anyway, here is another barking dog web site for you to check it out, if you haven't already seen it  http://www.anilak.com/barking-dogs/

The Misery of the Barking Dog...

One thing I find extremely annoying, almost as annoying as a barking dog, is a dog owner who thinks everyone should like dogs just because they do. This is an absurd school of thought, and even "responsible" dog owners are guilty of this unfair assumption. I like cats but I know not everyone likes cats and, well, it is what it is. So what. Some people love sky diving but I'll be damned if I'm going to jump out of a perfectly good plane in flight and plunge toward the earth with only a piece of cloth and some strings between me and my demise, and no one is going to convince me that I should.

Even if you like dogs and understand how their neglect can contribute to their chronic barking, at some point during the barking nightmare the dog's own misery becomes irrelevant. What is important is your own survival and anyone who, after knowing that a person is in the midst of suffering from barking dogs and has been for several years, implies that the misery of the barking dog should be at all important is tactless and insensitive and especially so if the person making such a statement has also been the victim of heartless dog owners who allow their barking dogs to ruin other people's lives. One would think that they'd remember how utterly hopeless one feels, how fragile one become both physically and emotionally, and the unmentionable thoughts that go through one's mind when one is forced out of their yard, becomes conditioned by the barking to hate their own home, has panic attacks when nearing their home after being away, suffers from severe sleep deprivation and has anxiety at the mere thought of going to bed, suffers extreme stress, tension, depression...fears for their family's well being...because it seems like there will never be any relief from the awful noise of the barking dog...

I recently had this happen to me on a new barking dog forum that I thought was supposed to be, among other things, a support group for people who are suffering, or have suffered, through the nightmare of having their health and lives ruined from being forced to listen to the interminable, infernal barking of dogs. I was extremely offended by the statement, and what made it even worse was the reaction of the administrator of this new forum, who was also the founder of another online barking dog support group which had actually been a great help to me. Unfortunately that group is now defunct, and has been replaced by this new forum on which the administrator, it seems, does not want anyone to express their true feelings of despair and their fear of meeting their demise due to barking dog, unless they hide their feelings of despise toward the dog for fear of offending dog owners. All I can say is shame on you. I promptly deleted all my posts, deleted myself from the forum and also from the other support group as well as another social network page began by the same person.

Even some of us who like dogs and don't like to see them suffer can't help but feel a certain amount of animosity toward the creature that is causing us so much misery with the awful, unending noise it produces, even knowing that ultimately it is the dog's negligent owner that is responsible for allowing the behavioral problem to develop and continue on to become such a nuisance to everyone within hearing distance...especially those of us right next door.

I've had dogs in the past whose company I really enjoyed, and I know a number of really great dogs that belong to friends, but after having lived so long surrounded by neighbors whose dogs' barking has driven me out of my yard and home and out of my mind, and by the smell of dog feces left to accumulate in their yards that has made it impossible to enjoy my yard or even open doors and windows on a nice day, and having felt great despair at the suffering of some of my neighbors' neglected and abused dogs, I no longer wish to be around dogs, and at this point I feel that I will never want to share my home with another dog. I would never harm a dog, unless of course it was about to attack, and I'll still enjoy visiting my friend's good dogs, but I can no longer enjoy living around dogs. I know that it's not the dog's fault that it has been allowed to become such a negative force, but it is what it is...

"I have often lamented that we cannot close our ears
with as much ease as we can our eyes." 
~Richard Steele

One thing that is unfortunate about all this is I know that if I want to see changes made in the legislation that protects people from the products of irresponsible dog owners I'll have to mingle with people who only want the changes made for the welfare of the dogs and don't really give a crap about people. And this is where, I believe, they will loose support because the numbers would be much larger if dog people would acknowledge that not everyone likes dogs yet everyone can be negatively affected by irresponsible dog owners, weak and non existent laws, and slack law enforcement. But as it is, the dog welfare folks just mostly repell folks for whom dogs are not top priority, but who would also like to see changes made.

A 2nd Citation is Issued to My Barking Dog Neighbors on Feb. 23, 2011

A quick update: since court on Jan. 13, when my neighbors pled guilty and were fined for the citation they got on Dec. 20, 2010 for their violation of the animal noise ordinance, my neighbor's dogs have awakened me 19 times. Thus fed up with having my sleep interrupted I told the police and animal control that I wasn't going to tolerate it, and on Feb. 23, they were issued their 2nd citation because they can't keep their dogs quiet...even at night...and they don't respect other people's right to peace.

Six days after the first hearing on Jan. 13 I called the police when the barking woke me at 2:14 a.m. The responding officer heard the barking from down the block, and the dog barked the whole time he was here. He wouldn't have been here so long but he couldn't get my neighbors to the door. Apparently they didn't even hear the barking, but of course it was on this side of their house near my bedroom window, not on the other side of their house where their bedroom window is. The officer warned them that he'd issue a citation if they didn't stop the barking. At that point he didn't know that my neighbors had just been to court 6 days ago for this same noise. The Animal Control officer came out the following morning, and he has since been out on 2 other occasions when I called and complained about still being awakened at all hours by the barking.
The AC has basically just had more useless "talks" with my neighbors, until finally on Feb. 22 I called and told him that enough was enough, and I was not going to tolerate being awakened, regardless of how much the barking has decreased overall. I had been awakened 3 times in 3 days, including twice within 1/2 hour that very morning before 6:30 a.m. and I was in a foul mood, especially after having given my neighbors several more chances...which some folks I've talked to think they didn't deserve
.
So the following day he came out and gave them another citation. Court will be on April 7, so stay tuned...
This is all such a pain in the patootie, but the good news is...I've only heard 2 barks since the 2nd citation was issued, and NONE at night. Of course, after having been awakened so much during the last few years, I have great difficulty sleeping all night and continue to awaken in an anxious state, even when there is no barking...

It's a darn shame that I even have to go through all this when, with just a little responsible dog handling on my neighbors' part we could still be friendly neighbors. I really resent them for not only practically killing me with the barking noise, but for also making my life uncomfortable with their mean, hostile, and juvenile...remember they are a couple in their late 60s and early 70s...presence right next door to my home. I mean, sometimes I can't even avoid seeing their "if looks could kill" faces, and I'm always anxious because who knows what they will do next to teach me a lesson..."we'll show her..."

Barking Dog Advice from an Expert

I was going through some of the Barking Dog Yahoo Group messages that I saved and came across the following, which makes excellent sense. The bottom line is, if you have recently begun to be tormented by your neighbor's barking dog, don't wait to do something about it - jump into action immediately.

Dr. Craig Mixon, an expert on the subject of barking dogs and their owners, and founder of BarkingDogs.net, says...

"To a large extent, your best course of action is always determined by your own individual skill set. You need to do what you are good at doing, and what you know how to do. Some people are brilliant at confrontation ­ others at maneuver, persuasion, or politics ­ still others do best to steer clear of all categories.

"But as a trained behaviorist I can tell you that the longer you let any given response continue, and the better established it becomes, the harder it is likely to be to get it stopped.

"So if your neighbor gets a dog and the barking starts, then, if you are ever going to talk to him about it, you had better do it immediately. Because every minute it continues, the less likely he is to be willing to bring it to a stop. That is true of dogs and humans alike. The research shows that beyond the slightest doubt."

I now, well over 2 years later, realize the above statement from Dr. Mixon is true and I wish I would have come across his works sooner. In retrospect I could have saved myself from over 2 years of barking torment and the mental, physical & financial side effects of this noise trauma had I acted sooner. As it is, I allowed myself to be victimized for well over 2 years by my neighboring sociopath barking dog owners and their incessantly yapping psycho dog since day one of the dog's arrival as a puppy, hoping they'd recognize the problem and put and end to it.

This attempt to be patient did no good at all.  The barking did not subside, in fact just got worse & worse,  and just caused me immeasurable stress, anxiety & tension and also ended up costing me a lot of money. The dog's owners are as hostile toward me today as they would have been then, if I'd jumped into action when they first got the dog, but at least I could have saved myself from a lot misery (and also saved some money). At this point, I don't care if they hate me. Neighborly relations were ruined the day I realized they were just going to let him bark and bark and bark without any regard for neighbors, which was on day one when they brought the dog home and he was running around the yard yapping & yapping at me and everything else that moved or didn't move.

From the first day, at the end of November in 2009, that we began complaining about the barking...first by "talking" to them about it, which was a one sided conversation and a complete waste of time and breath, then by me calling them at night when the dog was barking, which only put an end to the barking temporarily that night, then later by calling the police and animal control, which at least put an end to the dog being out at night...it has taken less than 6 months to attain relative peace again. Fortunately for us the neighbor's oldest son, unfortunately due to his own misfortune, had to move back home and started working with the dog to make him stop barking.  The son has done a marvelous job with the dog, especially considering he has his own mother working against him by inciting the dog to bark when her son is not around... 

Beginning sometime in late March this year, things began going along very nicely and quietly (it was odd but I wasn't going to question it), and then suddenly there were a couple of weeks late in April when Mrs. Barking Dog Owner, who claims to be a good Christian, was letting the dog out very early in the morning (like between 6-6:30 a.m.) and allowing him to bark which had very rudely & traumatically awakened me 4-5 times. One morning I actually caught her in the process of provoking some barking, at least it seemed so to me when I witnessed her standing on her screened porch making some sort of noise which, everytime the dogs heard it, caused them break into a barking fit. Some people whom I've told about this, who have also heard the unbearable ruckus, asserted that it sounds like spiteful behavior on the part of the mean old bitch...

The second time this happened, I went outside, probably looking like some sort of psyco myself as I'd just been awakened from a very deep sleep and was still trying to get my wits about me...fortunately my sleeping attire was not going to get me arrested for indecent exposure..., and let her know that I was not happy about being awakened. Of course, she lashed out with hostilities and accusations about me being a bad neighbor for calling the police... blah, blah, blah...and accused my cat of instigating the barking (he was in the house, still sleeping...that's how early it was) and then she, the good Christian, threatened to trap my cat and send him to the shelter...etc., etc. It was difficult to get a word in but I was finally able to casually mention that I had video/sound recordings of her dog being left outside to bark for hours, at all hours... Apparently she, oddly enough as I don't credit her with much intelligence, realized that along with telling her I had the barking evidence on tape (so to speak) I was also implying that the evidence points out that she neglected the dog by allowing him to be unattended during these sometimes hours long barking fits because she seemed to be taken aback and lost for words...at least temporarily until she lamely got the last word in and again reiterated how she couldn't believe I would ever be such a bad neighbor. Boo hoo. Realizing I'd have better luck communicating wtih a rock, I walked away.

This early morning barking occurred several more times and so I again called the police and animal control. They never came out again as by the time I called them Mrs. Sociopath had locked the dog up (nice, huh? lock them up rather than enforce the training that her son has implemented), but I gave them all a good ration of how I was fed up with losing sleep and my life being ruined because my neighbors were being allowed to let their dog be a barking nuisance...and on and on. Then, just as suddenly as it began again, this early morning barking suddenly stopped again so maybe the police or animal control sent a notice or called them or something. I don't know and, as long as the dog successfully continues on his path of barking behavior modification, I don't care.

So, since perhaps you missed it because I've rambled on and on about my barking misery, the main point of the story is, don't wait to start the process of putting an end to the barking. You'll just be more and more traumatized the longer it goes on, the neighbors will probably hate you regardless of when you let them know that you won't tolerate it, and you'll probably have better success at stopping the barking if you speak up right away.

By the way, I have nothing against Christians or people with any other religious beliefs. I do not, however, like people who are hypocrites.

The Good, the Bad, and the Absurd...

First the good news: I've purchased 500 ft. of Purr...fect Fence so my cat will have a safe enclosure from which he can't escape and so he can hunt, pee, spray, lounge...whatever he wants... outside and I don't have to worry about Mrs. Barking Sociopath trapping him and sending him to the shelter;

The bad news is: The 5 Purrfect Fence kits, plus 2 gates with 2 gate extensions so I can get the riding mower in and out costs just under $3700 which is now on the credit card, but...

More good news is: I probably won't use all 5 Purrfect Fence kits because I want all areas within the enclosure to be within my field of view from the house, but I bought that many because doing so considerably reduced the cost of each individual kit, so I can sell 1 or 2 and recoup some money, and...

Now for the absurd, or what some people might consider the funny stuff (no, unfortunately, not the green leafy kind): Actually it's frightening, not funny at all. One might even concluded that evolution has suddenly changed the definition of the fittest and has begun to allow mentally incompetent folks to thrive and survive, as my barking dog neighbors certainly seem to be doing a better job of surviving than I am even though, at my worst, I possess a much higher degree of intelligence and am in much better physical condition, even while suffering from nerve damage and who knows what all due to barking noise trauma. But anyway, these are some of the things my sociopath barking dog owner neighbors have said to me (and my comments are, of course, in blue):

• “Well, if you quit hanging around outside the dog wouldn’t be barking.” (What. Quit hanging around in my own yard?)
• “You probably let the cat out.” (It was 6:15 a.m. and actually the lucky cat had slept through the barking fit and was still on the bed. Maybe she thought I let the cat out to instigate a barking riot to wake myself up from a deep sleep so I could drag my ragged ass outside to put an end to the barking because I had nothing better to do?)
• “He’s probably barking at the cat.” (The cat was inside…again. Damn that cat. He’s never outside when he’s guilty of instigating a barking riot)
• “Where’s the cat?” (Good grief. Can’t they come up with something new?)
• “Those other dogs are barking.” (At least they are getting creative and didn’t blame the cat this time)
• “Don’t you have insulation in your house?” (Yeah, this is what I'm dealing with. This is one of those statements that kind of left me speechless and with my mouth hanging open. Did this mean that, if we didn't have insulation...cripes, I still don't know WTF to say about this one. Even knowing these idiots, this one took me completely by surprise)
• “I can’t hear any barking.” (Now I'd be really worried about that, because we can hear the barking in every room of our house, even my neighbors on the other side of me can hear it in their house, and the pastor of the church on the corner can hear it all the way at the side entrance to his church, and even the little old lady living through the woods in back who kept saying "what?" when I was talking to her can hear this same barking, not to mention people for blocks around can also hear it)
• “Dogs bark.” (Of course, the good old stand-by stupid "duh" remark. This is a very condescending remark, and when someone says this you know you are talking to a person who has a nuisance barking dog and/or who thinks that everyone just has to put up with it because, after all, it's a dog, and if the barking is ruining your life it's your own fault. Yeah, yeah, dogs bark but enough is enough)
• “Why don’t you go to the doctor for your headache?” (I have no idea where this came from. Maybe she figured that the barking must have given me a headache, which proves she knows how obnoxious the barking really is. But I didn’t have a headache when she said that to me, and even if I did how the hell would she know?) 
• "You hurt my dog. You were yelling at him." Sigh. (Actually, it was 6:15 a.m. and I was yelling at the humans to shut the dog up. an exercise in futility, to be sure. And since I complained about being awakened by the barking she threatened to trap my cat and send him to the shelter. That'll teach me.)

I hope nothing that stupid has ever been produced by my brain and then even worse, gone beyond my lips. I'm almost positive it hasn't... but you know how you sometimes have a slight lingering doubt about a thing, which can be somewhat secretly embarrassing? Because if I ever said anything like what my barking dog owner neighbors have said to me, I'd be really embarrassed.

Peace, kiddies. Hopefully, anyway.

Shock & Horror

I just have to say, that I have never lived in a place like this before. I've never lived next to such horrible neighbors, and I swear I never knew that people let their dogs bark for hours and hours, at all hours, or that they so inhumanely tied their dogs up in their yards and ignored them...until I moved here to Monroe, NC. I've known some wackos, but I swear I've never personally known so many mean and hateful people at one time as I have here, ever, and I never knew the law would allow such things.

But I don't know what the hell I was thinking because I know our own political leaders indulge in things like torture, lies, and murder, and such... so why should my neighbors be humane...

That's all I really have to say today because I feel very ill right now from all this venom, ignorance, inhumanity and barking that I'm surrounded by. I know, you are as shocked by my speechlessness, as I am shocked by what people are allowed to do to their dogs and to their neighbors.

Sometimes I wish I took drugs or drank, because I'd be blasted or passed out right now.

Will I ever have any peace again before I die?

The $$$$ Go Marching By...

This is just a short entry (thank god, you are saying) to vent about how much money my barking dog owning neighbor has cost us...and will cost us.

Keep in mind that we offered to pay for dog training so the dog could be house trained, spend time inside with his family and learn to not bark at everything that moves or doesn't move, but the stupid (and now vindictive) owners, my lovely neighbors, are too lazy, mean and uncaring to spend that much time on the dog even if someone else is willing to pay for it. This would have been the cheap way out for us.

I just got a fence estimate: just under $10,000. This is not including the fees for the attorney who is investigating a discrepancy with the property lines, the surveyor who will eventually mark those lines, and the guys I'll have to hire to clear out some shrubs and trees which are on the property lines. This also does not include the cost of "cat proofing" the fence so my cat can't get out of his yard. I have no idea how much that will cost, but I'm estimating a total of approximately $15,000 for the fence. If it's less, yea.

This fence has become a necessity because my neighbor has now threatened to harm my cat, who has been blamed for the majority of the barking, who is usually in the house when the dog is barking, who usually stays in his own yard when he's outside, and who no one complained about (even though I'd ask if he was bothering any of my neighbors) until I complained about the barking and called the cops. On occasion the cat gets frisky and goes into their driveway to roll in the dirt or hunt for rodents in the shrubs that line the drive, but very rarely. The cat is never out at night and never out when I'm not home, and when he's out I check on him often. And when he's out, the dog is rarely barking at the cat and I know this because I immediately investigate the barking when the cat is outside. On the rare occasions when the dog is actually barking because he sees the cat, I immediately bring the cat inside.

In fact, the cat has provided 2 important services for us and both of our neighbors (and he does so very quietly) - he catches rodents, and keeps stray cats away, of which there are many in our neighborhood. One time I tried to make the cat a full time indoor cat for year. During that year we had numerous stray cats showing up, crapping, spraying, and fighting & howling over mates. My cat hated being indoors all the time, and he developed reoccurring urinary tract infections. Once I began letting him go out again, his urinary tract infections disappeared and so did all the stray cats. My cat is very territorial and doesn't tolerate feline intruders.

Anyway, some time during the middle of summer (2009) my neck and upper back began to hurt so badly from the tension, I had huge knotted up muscles in my neck, headaches had increased in frequency, jaw pain, tinnitis, and the muscles were so tense at the side of my neck that they felt like they were pulling away from my bones, and so I began to think I had a tumor or some other serious disease, and so in October (2009) I began paying for health insurance. I got the lowest monthly payments which meant the highest deductible so I still have to pay for everything until my deductible was met, but at least if I had a serious illness everything would be covered after the deductible. The monthly cost of the health insurance is $228 so that is $1596, to date, which I wasn't spending before.

In November of last year (2009) I began seeing my chiropractor every week due to the severe neck pain I was having which I'd finally realized was due to the tension from listening to the dog bark his shrill piercing bark for hours, day and night, which seriously aggravated an existing problem. I realized every time the dog was barking I was tensing up so much that my shoulders were practically up to my ears. So from November to now, I've spent $40 a week to see the chiropractor. Prior to that I saw the chiropractor once a month for an existing problem. So that is $120 more per month than I would have spent otherwise. So far that's about $720 more, to date, thanks to barking.

Since I was so tense all the time, the chiropratic adjustments were often difficult to achieve and the benefits never last long (especially because the dog would be barking at me as soon as I got home), and so in December I began having a 1 hour massage prior to the chiropratic adjustment. This allowed my muscles to relax so that the chiropractor could actually make the necessary adjustments to my spine. The massage is $60 - $75 dollars each, depending on which massage therapist I go to. This is $60 to $75 more per week than I was spending before. At $60 a week brings it to $1200 for the massage fees, to date, probably more. My neck, by the way, is still killing me.

I've also gone to my physician twice specifically for barking related problems which totaled almost $200. I've been referred to an orthopedic specialist which was $412 for the first new patient visit, and I'm now having physical therapy which I've only had twice so far and only paid $25 per visit, but it will probably end up costing about $300 per week if my health insurance won't cover it. Prescriptions so far have been about $75 (Xanax for my head, Flexeril and an anti inflammatory for my muscles). Thankfully, I haven't started drinking or smoking pot...because then my drug cost would be astronomical.

Keep in mind that my health insurance deductible must be met before my health insurance pays for anything other than yearly basic physicals, and so I've paid for all this out of pocket, and so now I'm up to $4253 that I've spent on medical/health alone in the last 7 months thanks to my neighbors letting their dog bark like a psycho nuisance day & night.

I have 6 more physical therapy appointments and another visit to the ortho doc scheduled. If I'm lucky, my health insurance will cover at least part of the cost of the ortho and physical thereapy. I really haven't made any effort to find out yet, because I'm not up for any more bad news at this point.

I have a physical scheduled, most of which will be covered by the health insurance, however, due to the severe tinnitis which developed sometime during the summer last year (I noticed it increased every time I was working in the yard and the dog was barking...I really couldn't stay out for more than 15 minutes when he was barking, it was so loud and shrill and continuous...I mean I don't know how my neighbors could stand listening to their own dog bark like that...) and a newly formed lump in my back I'll probably have an MRI which is not routine...

Well, I said it was going to be short so I'll keep my promise, but mainly because I'm now having an anxiety attack over all this money I'm spending and will end up spending (I mean I could have taken a European vacation for 6 months for that amount) thanks to my thoughtless neighbors and all the damage they've caused by allowing their dog to be a barking nuisance. Thankfully, the dog is not barking right now but I better get to bed in case he starts in early in the morning. Did I tell you that I caught my neighbor inciting her dog to bark very early the other morning by standing on her screened in porch making some sort of noise that was getting the dog worked up? And she accused my cat of inciting the riot, who was in the house sleeping, and accused me of being a bad neighbor for complaining about the barking...

Good night & I hope you have a peaceful one.

Another Day Ruined Before it Even Began...Good Grief...

Recently there have been some messages on the Barking Dog group about a CD which, when played, blasts the barking nuisance with ultrasonic sound waves in the attempt to get it to stop barking. However, some folks think it is the irresponsible owner who should be blasted out of orbit, not the dog who is just being a dog.

One person wrote:

"There is an over-riding moral issue here, namely that inflicting hurt upon a helpless creature is fundamentally wrong. It is not the dog's fault that it is barking so annoyingly. It is the owner's fault entirely, and it's him who should be blasted to Kingdom Come for his selfish, cruel idiocy."

Another response to this included:

"...however the other side of that coin is that dogs actually do harm humans and horrible things have resulted to humans because of a dog's noise/threats..."

Ironically, I was awakened this morning around 7:30ish (at least that's what time it was when I finally looked at the clock) from a very deep sleep by my neighboring shrill barker. Being in a particularly foul mood over it, I opened the window and yelled for the dog to be shut up which, of course, was a waste of breath and energy. I'm not really sure when the barking began, but I later found out that someone had heard the ruckus around 7 a.m., a half hour earlier than when I finally looked at the clock... man, I was in a really deep sleep and enjoying it because it's not something I've done much of in the last 2 years.

Later my neighbor accused me of hurting her dog by yelling at him ....can you imagine? This accusation after being assaulted by her excruciatingly shrill barker, every day and many nights, for almost 3 years now... Any loud statments I've made (which have been rare) lasted for about 5 seconds if that (and I set off my car alarm probably less than a half dozen times in a 2 week period early in January, and I tried the ultrasonic device about 4 times which had no effect on the dog but freaked out my cats). Not to mention I don't think I can even yell as loud as that dog barks. Certainly if I yelled as much as he barks I'd have dropped dead long ago... And I listened to that awful barking for over 2 years before we ever complained to them about it back in November last year (2009). Why am I even defending myself? Good grief.

Anyway, he continued to bark and so I finally went outside to make him be quiet myself, which I've had to do on many occasions if I wanted peace, although my efforts were not always successful. As soon as I got to the edge of my front porch, I heard my neighbor standing on her screened in porch shaking what sounded like a can of something, I guess to get the dogs attention...but it seemed to me it was making them bark more...hmmm...until they saw me. Then they came running over, wagging their tails! I called to whoever was on the porch (because I coudn't see them) and she answered. I was going to politely (even though I'd already yelled out of the window and wasn't feeling very polite) ask her please not to let the dogs bark like that so early in the morning and inform her that I'd been awakended...blah, blah, blah...like she didn't already know they were waking me up...but she rudely cut in and prodeeded to be belligerant and hostile. In fact, I don't think I was able to finish one sentence without being rudely interupted by her accusations and threats. Actually, the only thing that left her speechless was when I informed her that I had many hours of video/sound recordings of her dog barking, sometimes almost continually for 2-3 hours without anyone checking on him, day & night at all hours. Being so stunned by this revelation of barking evidence, the only thing she could say was another feeble accusation about how she never thought I would ever be such a bad neighbor. Sigh. Ditto.

By the way, all this time her 2 dogs were sitting by the fence quietly looking at me...and wagging their tails. They love me. Sheesh.

Now, I've suffered immeasurable mental and physical pain from being forced to listen to her dog barking, as I'm sure you all can relate to, and have, in the last 6 months, spent several thousand dollars (so far) seeking relief consulting with doctors, a chiropractor, 3 massage therapist, and most recently an orthopedic specialist for relief of my neck and jaw pain caused by tension caused by being forced to listen to the barking, day and night, inside my home and outside in the yard. Many times, in fact I'd say about 95% of the time, when I return home from a massage, chiro, or any other relaxing event, the dog is barking as soon as I pull up into the driveway even before I get out of my car. So much for that $75 massage.

Ultimately I know it will be a waste of money to see all these doctors and therapists if I have to continue to listen to the barking.

Incidentally, the barking is of such a loud & shrill nature that the neighbors on the other side of me can hear the barking in their home, albeit not very loudly (as they are farther away and they have more noise in their home...children and TVs, etc.), but that gives you a clue as to how loud it is in my (formerly) quiet home which, at the closest point, is less than 50 feet away from one of the dog's favorite barking spots.

Then she, my barking dog owner neighbor, said the dog is on his own property (I tried to mention that she was allowing the dog to tresspass on my property and into my home by projecting his voice into my private air space, but it was a one sided conversation and she probably wouldn't get it anyway...duh...) and accused me of being a bad neighbor because I've complained about the loud, shrill, piercing, almost continual traumatic barking that has caused me immeasurable physical & mental pain, not to mention is continuing to cost me a lot of money, and because I've called the police and animal control (who have not been any help...surprise, surprise), and then she accused my cat of instigating the barking, that the dog was probably barking because I let my cat out, and she threatened to trap him and send him to animal control. I was stunned at the sheer nastiness of this person, who I knew from the beginning was a bit...uh...odd, shall we say, but with whom I'd been on good terms for a number of years, but I managed to say, "I just woke up and my cat is still sleeping on my bed." The cat was in the house all night, as usual. If the dog only barked when my cat goes onto their property, I'd have no problem with the barking because it would be so rare. When the cat is outside he doesn't usually go onto their property because I keep an eagle eye on him when he's outside and he's usually following me around, lounging around under a shrub, or looking for rodents (on his own property). He's a fat, middle aged cat, you see. On the rare occasion, usually when I'm trying to get him in the house and he gets fiesty because he doesn't want to go in, he'll run over there and hide under one of their (many) cars so I follow him until I can snatch him up, and if he's ever out of my sight at any other time for one second I hunt him down and bring him in. My other cat rarely wanders from under her favorite bush or the porch at the other side of our yard, and stays within about a 25 foot radius of both when she's outside. On a rare occasion she'll come out and follow me around a bit, but never in front of or at the sides of the house, and never way out behind the garage.

Why am I defending my cats? for crying out loud. My cats have done nothing wrong...and they are quiet. In fact, they are the ones being harrassed by the dog who rushes to the fence and starts barking like a psycho when he sees them in their own yard. Actually, he usually only sees them if he sees or hears me first, then rushes to the fence to bark at me and then spies the cat following me around and starts in with the "cat bark." If that dog ever got out of his yard I know he'll run straight to my yard and try to attack my cats, and then, of course, my cat will smack him a good one and my stupid neighbor will start crying about how my cat hurt her dog.

When I first started letting my big tuxedo cat go outside (I tried to force him to stay indoors for a year when he was 3-4 but he was miserable and developed reoccuring urinary tract infections, which stopped when I started letting him out again), I went to both neighbors and asked them if he was bothering them. No one said he was, and so I told them if he was to let me know right away and I'd collect him and put him in. Over the years, I've inquired about this again occasionally, but no one ever said he was bothering them.

However, maybe she did tell me the cat was bothering them. One time, long before I expressed my irritation with the barker, I was asking my barking dog neighbor if the cat was bothering them and she said her husband hates cats and would just as soon shoot them. I asked her if he was going to shoot my cat, and she never did answer. In retrospect, wonder if that was a threat? Her way of telling me the cat was a nuisance? She'd rather pick up a gun than pick up the phone? Scary people. Really, she didn't have to say that. I really didn't think her husband would shoot my cat but if the cat was bothering them all she had to do was say so. I get so tired of people not being straight forward and honest, and having to play guessing games and ending up looking like an idiot beause I can't figure out what the hell they're talking about. Oh, yeah, the dog was barking during this (very brief) conversation and she didn't make any attempt to stop it. And the cat was not there.

Back to today...my other neighbors, the good ones to the right of our house if you are facing it, were having a yard sale so on my way back inside I went over there and asked if they'd heard the barking. Two of them had; my neighbor's husband had actually heard the dog barking at about 7:00 a.m., even earlier than when I'd been awakened, when he was taking things out to the yard for the sale. The other person who heard the barking, a friend of my neighbors' who was over to participate in the yard sale, said she heard the barking and then saw me go out of the front door. She said the barking was so loud it was annoying to her way over there and that there is no way she could tolerate living next to that noise. She is willing to make a statement, if necessary, to support any complaints or court cases, and I already have 3 signed statements about the barking from these "good" neighbors (the 3 adults in the house).

Of course, I already know my barking dog owner neighbor fits right into the disturbed personality profile of the nuisance barking dog owner, but knowing this doesn't make it any less stressful or upsetting for me to be abused by both dog and human like this, and now have to worry about my cats being harmed by the ignorant barking dog owner.

The barking problem had decreased significantly in the last 6 weeks, and I had begun to relax and actually began to feel happy again and like I was healing from the abuse. Even my neck was feeling better, my digestive problems had deminished a good bit, and I was actually feeling back to my old affable self again. But I guess it was just a fluke because this last week the barking has begun to increase again, especially early morning, and now I feel like I'm hopelessly back to square one.

Just venting here, really. Thanks for listening.

Oh, Crap...Literally

I must be cursed. First it's the barker next door keeping me out of my own yard for 2 years, now it's the smell of dog feces coming from the property behind us where the 2 dogs are tied up.

Maybe it was that old gypsy lady in Spain, back in 2001, who grabbed my hand to read my fortune, then wanted money but I wouldn't give her any because I had no idea what she was saying. I didn't ask her to do it, she just walked up and started palm reading, or something. She got really pissed off...and I've had a lot of lousy things happen since then... Really, I'm not superstitious, but... I should have just given her the damn money... and you know as I was walking away I was thinking that she had just cursed me... Every time shit (no pun intended) happens I think about that.

I swear I can smell dog crap in my house. Today was not an extremely warm day, pleasant really...until I stepped outside. At first I couldn't smell it until I walked out behind the garage, which sort of comes out about half way across the yard, half way to the back of the property. It just kind of hit me in the face like I walked into a toxic miasma. I had to go inside pretty quickly because, and this might surprise some folks, I don't deal well with the overwhelming smell of dog shit. It kinda makes me want to puke.

Later on, I stepped out of my back door...but only because I absolutely had to go outside...and I could smell it immediately and it had even cooled off considerable. Now that's bad. I had the door open just briefly, but then I thought I could smell it in the house.

A few weeks ago I spent some time in Charleston, back when the temps were up. The day I came home was really warm. When I walked in the house I could swear I smelled shit so I went about cursing my cats looking for cat poop. My neighbor (the only good one) had taken care of my cats while I was gone and so their litter boxes were very clean (she's really good about tidying up after the cats). But I could swear there was poop in the house...but I couldn't find any so I just figured I was being paranoid. The next day I went outside, and I realized where the poop smell was coming from. Yep.

I've asked them twice now to clean up the poop and told them I can smell it all the way at my back door... which is a good distance from the property line...so that tells you how bad it is. And, yes, if I have my back door open or open the windows at the back of the house...which are usually the only ones I open due to the amount of traffic noise in front...the smell travels right on inside. Nice. I dread to think what it's going to be like as the summer progresses...hotter...more humidity...

It's no wonder some of my cats have become so neurotic in the last couple of years. They are surrounded by dogs barking and dog stink.

To top it off, if one can do that, those dogs that are tied up back there are surrounded by their own turd piles. I mean dozens of them. The dogs can barely move without stepping in shit...their own. When I went over there the other day to inform them of the foul odor drifting over from their property, I had to tip toe through dog crap. I cut through the cyprus trees at the property line and the easiest spot to get through is right by the dogs. There was so much crap around those dogs...that is really sad. Tied up and wallowing in your own shit. I really feel sorry for those dogs. They are always so happy to see me and I can hardly stand to look at them 'cause it's so sad (not to mention stinky).

I don't understand these folks at all. How could you live with the smell of dog poop fuming around your home, you pets wading in their own feces, and your dogs barking like psychotic lunatics?

Today I looked all through the City of Monroe Code of Ordinances and did not find one damn thing about cleaning up your dog's poop. Not one. Nor does it mention anything about providing proper shelter for your dogs, providing food & water...essentially nothing to protect the dog or the public from the dog's irresponsible owners.

I looked under Title IX: GENERAL REGULATIONS, Chapter 91: ANIMALS and did not find one thing about dog poop odor nuisances.

I looked under Title IX: GENERAL REGULATIONS, Chapter 93: PUBLIC HEALTH NUISANCE, and found this:

§ 93.03 DECLARATION OF A PUBLIC HEALTH NUISANCE.

The following conditions shall constitute a nuisance to public health or safety and shall be prohibited within the City's jurisdiction:

(A) Neglect of property. It shall be unlawful for any person to endanger the public health, safety, and welfare through the neglect of property by causing or allowing the accumulation of solid waste or unsightly litter, waste products causing the existence of foul odors, dead animals, unsecured appliances, building material, hazardous waste, or potentially dangerous devices to be discarded, abandoned, or remain on or emanate from any such property, or to cause or allow the accumulation of solid waste or unsightly litter, waste products causing the existence of foul odors, dead animals, unsecured appliances, building material, construction and demolition material, hazardous waste, or potentially dangerous devices to be discarded, abandoned, or remain on or emanate from public property or other private property, vacant lots, ponds, streams, or bodies of water or banks thereof.

Then I also looked under Title V: PUPLIC WORKS, Chapter 55: SOLID WASTE, and found this:

§ 55.02 GENERAL REGULATIONS.

(A) It shall be unlawful for any person to endanger the public health, safety and welfare through the neglect of property by causing or allowing unsightly garbage, weeds and grass, yard waste, foul odor, dead animals, junk, unsecured appliances or potentially dangerous devices to remain on or emanate from property, or to discard or abandon or cause such on public property, private property, vacant lots or any pond, stream or body of water or banks thereof within the city limits.

and this:

§ 55.10 REMOVAL OF DEAD ANIMALS, ASHES, CONTAGIOUS DISEASE MATERIAL, HYPODERMIC INSTRUMENTS AND HAZARDOUS WASTE.

(E) Hazardous Waste. It shall be unlawful to place hazardous waste in any container for disposal except as follows:

     (1) Paint cans shall have lids removed and contain no wet paint. Kitty litter or sand may be added to solidify material for collection.
     (2) Soiled kitty litter shall be enclosed in double plastic bags and securely tied prior to placing the bag in rollout cart at curbside for disposal.

and under the same Title V, § 55.01 DEFINITIONS.

HAZARDOUS WASTE. Potentially dangerous by-products which cannot be handled, treated, or disposed of without special precautions. Hazardous waste includes ignitable, corrosive, reactive, and toxic wastes such as acetone, gasoline, industrial metal, alkaline cleaners, acids, batteries, cyanide, chlorine, arsenic, pesticide wastes, paint, caustics, infected materials, offal, fecal matter (human and animal), and explosives.
 
Notice it says how to dispose of kitty litter, but not one word about how to dispose of dog crap, which would fall under a hazardous waste...
 

What's wrong with the City of Monroe???

bag o crap

Maybe I should just purchase an SCBA because I don't think the city is going to help out here. I called the Monroe Police Department a couple of days ago and asked to talk with someone in Code Enforcement. The lady was really nice...but...and this is really scary...she knew nothing about any dog or animal ordinances. She said, "All we usually deal with is tall grass and building codes."

What about the rest of the Monroe Code of Ordinances???

Gee. I wish my neighbors had tall grass. At least it's quiet, doesn't smell bad, and I kind of think tall grass looks cool when it's blowing in the wind. .

Too Good to Be True...

Damn. I spoke too soon and I've jinxed myself. I shouldn't have gone around telling anyone that life was becoming almost bearable again because Harley's barking had been reduced considerable in the last few weeks. In the back of my brain I suspected it was too good to be true.

I was awakened before 6:15 this morning...I took a Xanax before 8 and I've still been in a foul mood all day with a lingering headache and miserable neck pain. Before this morning I had been in such a good mood, and yesterday I felt so good, and because my neck was not bothering me so much I had looked forward to a good sleep and then sleeping in this morning.

Pissed off and feeling hopeless, I drug myself out to do some grocery shopping and all I could think about was having to listen to that barking again with no hope insight for relief...

Dear Barking Dog Neighbors,

For the last few weeks the barking had diminished so much that I was actually beginning to feel better physically and mentally, I was able to spend time in my yard which I haven’t done for about 2 years due to being barked at continually while I was in my yard (front and back), and to get some good sleep in my bedroom rather than lousy sleep in the living room on the sofa which is where I’ve had to spend most of the last year because of the barking. The barking had diminished so much that I was actually beginning to enjoy being at home again, which I haven’t done for quite some time.

But this morning I was in a deep and good sleep (something which I have not had a lot of in the last couple of years because of Harley’s barking)...and then I was awakened at 6:15 a.m. by the barking of your big white dog. Then, just as I thought I was going to be able to go back to sleep, Harley started barking. It was then 6:38 a.m. Then Harley was barking again a few times after that, and at approximately 7:30 he and the big white dog were both barking so much that I had to get up and put an end to it myself. This is not right. They are not my dogs and I should not have to hear them like this nor get up to make them be quiet just so I can relax, sleep and enjoy my life.

Please, please do not let the dogs bark so early or so frequently again, as you have in the past. If you want to hear what I’ve had to put up with, I have video/sound recordings of the awful racket, and it is unbearable. No one should be forced to listen to this terrible noise as much as I’ve had to.

I can’t take the stress of having to listen to your dogs bark incessantly any longer. Being forced to listen to it for so long has caused me physical pain from the tension. It has cost me a lot of money to seek relief through chiropractors and doctors (including an orthopedic specialist) because the stress and tension it caused me has affected my physical health - severe neck pain and headaches from tension, stomach upsets from the stress - and mental health - anxiety/panic attacks because the barking is so loud, frequent and alarming, and depression because I’m stuck and I can’t just pack up and move to get away from the awful noise – and I’m now, since last November, regularly taking medications to help relieve the physical pain and mental torment that having to listen to this barking for 2+ years has caused me.

Dogs bark, yes, but Harley's barking is a pathological behavior problem. If you don’t want to consult a professional trainer and supervise him when he’s outside, or use a bark collar, please consider medication. I’ve successfully used medication to control one of my cat’s serious behavior problems and the cat is no worse off because of it. In fact he’s better off thanks to the medication. If you don't understand the depth to which this barking has affected me, consider this: I've given thought to euthanizing all my cats so I could jump in my car and just start driving and never come back. You think that's cruel? Well I think it's cruel to torment someone so much that the stress and tension causes them to feel like they are going to have a heart attack or stroke and die, and which causes them think about getting rid of their own pets just to survive. That's what you've done to me by allowing your dog to bark like he has for so long. That should tell you how desperate I am to get away from that barking because you've known me long enough to know how much I love my cats.

I realize that there are a lot of dogs in this neighborhood that bark, but none bark as frequently or a long as Harley does, and none of them are so close to our house that it sounds like it’s right outside the windows or practically inside the house like Harley's barking sounds, and his bark is so loud and shrill that when I'm outside I can't even think and it actually makes my ears hurt; this has also produced a serious ringing problem in my ears that lasts long after I go inside. In fact, the ringing rarely stops now.

Thanks to you, I can't enjoy my home, my yard, or my life. What's left?

Miracle or Fluke?

I'm not a religious person but a miracle might be taking place here. Oddly enough, Harley the dog has suddenly stopped barking like a psycho. Or rather, his people have suddenly begun making an effort to stop the barking pretty darn quickly after it starts. Something is happening and I'm not quite sure what but I do know that the very annoying, actually far beyond annoying, in fact so far beyond annoying as to be seriously traumatizing, barking has suddenly diminished into something that is almost tolerable. Not quite, but almost.

This is very bewildering, considering my neighbors made no effort to stop his loud, psycho behavior at all in the past, and in the beginning one of Harley's humans (the wife, of course) even commented on how cute he was during one of his (many & frequent & very loud) barking fits. Of course, Harley is still barking but the duration and the violent force of his psycho fits have greatly diminished. He is also still rushing to the fence when he detects my presence outside, which immediately causes me to cringe and sets my adremal glands in a panic, but rather than emitting the shrill and unrelenting bark after bark after bark..., he is just giving off some halfhearted barks with not nearly the effort and stamina he has shown before. This is even true when he sees my cat; although his barking does still show more frantic when he sees the cat it does not contain that predator 'kill the cat' quality like before, and my cat has even begun to sit out in the middle of our yard again, and walk around a bit. In the house, I still hear him out there barking at who knows what (the breeze, or whatever), but oddly it never lasts more than a couple of minutes now.

Actually, this atypical behavior (of both dog and humans) began a little less than a couple of weeks ago, right around the time that we decided to take our barking evidence to the magistrate's office to file a barking complaint. This, of course, as we found out from the magistrate, was not the proper procedure to follow when complaining about the violation of an ordinance, and I'm still not really clear on what the procedure actually is, but the coincidence and timing are very strange. It is almost as if the neighbors are listening in on our conversations and heard me stating in no uncertain terms that it was finally time to file the complaint and go to court, and then decided they might finally be in really deep shit so they better shut the dog up...

Don't tell my neighbors this, but if that is what they thought it was, apparently, erroneous as it seems the process for placing someone in deep shit for the violation of an animal nuisance ordinance is not very well known by even the law enforcers around here...

Or maybe they heard us talking about putting up a fence that would cut off their use of the driveway that we share (part of our driveway, that is, that we have allowed them to use). That would really screw them up as their drive is very narrow and does not accommodate their large recreational camping vehicle...he he he...and it is much easier for them to just mindlessly pull into our driveway and drive up into their parking area (which, by the way, contains a visually annoying 5 vehicles, excluding the recreational camping thing).

I just find it very difficult to believe that my neighbors have suddenly developed a conscience...

However, after being tormented and tortured for 2+ years now, despite this deminished barking I'm not able to allow myself to be too comfortable with this newfound peace. I'd hate to get too comfortable and then find out that rather than a miracle this is just a temporary fluke. I continue to be leery when I step outside, I expect the barking when I drive up, still catch myself trying to silently sneak out of my house into my own backyard, find myself still whispering to my cats outside...I listen for it when I open the windows, when I'm preparing a bite in the kitchen, or going to the bathroom...some sort of PTSD or acute stress reaction, I assume. This would be noise induced trauma, I believe.

I'm continuing to devote way to much of my thinking processes to the potential next bark...but I gotta tell you that after my last massage and chiropractic treatment last Thursday my neck is not nearly as bad as it usually is the day following my visit to the chiropractor. In fact, Harley used to bark as soon as I drove up the driveway but this has not happened at all in the last couple of weeks. I keep expecting it but it's not happening. I'm not sure how to act now, as my whole life for the last 2+ years has been lived around this outrageous, ear splitting, mind numbing, revolting sound...

The creepiest thing is that one of the barking dog owner neighbors actually struck up a conversation, albeit feeble, with me 2 days ago...as if nothing had ever happened. It made me very suspicious.

In fact, my neighbor on the other side was coming over to take care of my cats while I was out of town for 5 days and she even commented on how weird it was that she did not hear any barking at all when she was here. It made her suspicious, too, and she has not been tormented nearly as much by this barking. Well, actually she has probably been very traumatized by me complaining about the barking and by her worries that the barking would drive me completely off the deep end.

So should I take a breath and heave a sigh of relief? I don't know, but I'm keeping the xanax close by.

"But He's a Dog and Dogs Bark..."

Not only do the owners of barking dogs lie about the dog's barking and the neighbors who are complaining about the barking, they also have a myriad of excuses as to why the dog is barking, and diversions to take the attention off of the real offender (that being the negligent human owner of the canine annoyance). They are all very "childish" and a reflection of the barking dog owner's own personality disorder(s).

At the Barking Dogs Yahoo Group there was recently a post with a list of barking dog owner replies and excuses that one victim of barking had heard, either directly or from other victims of barking.

Here's the list (of course, my comments are in red):

1. "Dogs bark, babies cry." Would you let your baby cry for hours on end, all through the day and night? No, you'd get up to see what is wrong and make it right. Otherwise it is called neglect!

2. "I have them for protection." Well, shouldn't you get up to see if someone is breaking in, trespassing on your property, committing vandalism or some other crime then? And if there is no crime being committed shouldn't you tell the dogs everything is OK so they (and the neighbors) can stop being alarmed???

3. "Its the way they talk to each other." But most of the time Harley is talking to himself then. I occasionally hear other dogs barking but they usually get tired of the conversation pretty quickly.

4. "Deal with it." I am. I'm going to take you to court, and do whatever I can to make sure your dog stops barking and everyone in the neighborhood hates you, not your dog.

5. "A neighbors cat teases them. Why don't you do something about outside cats?" Your dog should be trained not to react to other animals, including people, unless the dog is trained for security purposes in which case the dog still should not be barking at other animals and the neighbors, and if the dog is trained for security purposes the owner should investigate the barking immediately. My cats have been blamed for Harley's barking, so now my 2 indoor/outdoor cats are mostly indoors, and when they do go outside it's not for long. If the cats are outside when Harley is barking I immediately check to see where the cats are and if indeed Harley is barking because of one or both of my cats I bring them inside. I've also taken the bell off of the one cat's collar because Harley's barking is triggered by sound (my voice, other people's voices, my back door opening, the cat's bell, other dogs barking, the guy working on his house across the field on Phifer St...). Cats account for maybe 1% of Harley's barking. What about the other 99% of the time?

6. "Other dogs bark in the area." Well, they aren't right right next door to me waking me up at night, barking at me every time I walk out of my house or drive up my driveway, barking at my friends and people working on my property..."

7. "What about boom boxes and airplanes?" Very annoying also...during the 5 seconds it takes them to pass by.

8. "I bought shock collars for them, but the expensive batteries wore out." Why didn't you get one with rechargeable batteries?

9. "Nobody else complains." Oh, yes they do. Or, as in my case with Harley, there are no other neighbors living less than 50 feet away from the barking dog's yard who can hear the dog in every room of their house, and who get barked at every time they walk out of their door.

10. "Im going through a divorce." So you are neglecting your "babies" emotional needs because you're getting divorced? By the way, ever see that show called It's Me or the Dog?

11. "They are my babies." Many people closely supervise their young children, and at least try to teach their children good manners and reinforce lessons in good citizenship using the positive reinforcement/negative association method. Your dog barks for hours without supervision, and your dog poops and pees in the house so you have not taught him any manners at all. You are neglecting your babies. Also, refer back to #1.

12. "They don't bark that much." Then that dog on my video/sound recordings must be another dog that looks and sounds exactly like your dog! Oh, look! Their yard looks exactly like your yard! Hey, there's a car that looks like my car...with the same license plate number! And they have another dog that looks exactly like your other dog...and it's even quiet like your other dog...

13. "I work all day." So you are neglecting your babies while you are at work...ever hear of day care and/or sitters? What about at night when you are home?

14. "They failed doggie school." Let's talk to a dog trainer and see who really failed doggie school. Surprise! It was you who failed, not the dog.

15. "They only started barking when I had to confine them." No, they've been barking as long as you've had them.

16. "Why dont you file a complaint with the state about coyotes howling?"  Why? The coyotes aren't bothering me. They aren't howling day in and day out...right outside my house...

17. "Im not going to do anything until Im mandated by the court." Then, now...what's the difference? Why are you so belligerent? Why don't you just spend some time to train and supervise your dog so he/she is happier?

18. "Why cant you be neighborly?" I am...with the neighbors who aren't ruining my life and lowering my property value to $0 by allowing their dog to bark all the time. Thanks to you, no one wants to buy my house.

The only really mature statement would be, "I've been negligent with the training and supervision of my dog. I apologize for this causing a problem and I'm going to do something right away to remedy the situation," but chances are almost 100% that you'll never hear that come out of the mouth of a barking dog owner... I know I'll never hear it come out of the mouth of the people who own my neighboring nuisance.

Here's a couple more barking dog owner comments that came in later from another member:

GET A LIFE; had one but now it's ruined thanks to you and your barking dog...
F**K OFF; well, fuck you, too (but if I said that to them they have me in court fast...)
YOU'RE CRAZY; yeah, I am now, thanks to you and your barking dog...
YOU'RE NOISE SENSITIVE; hard not to be since your dog's bark is so damn loud, shrill and frequent...and echoes through my brain day and night.
PEOPLE WHO COMPLAIN ABOUT BARKING DOGS HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS; well...some people probably work during the day and would like to get some sleep at night...but since I'm retired I would like to be able to work in my yard again in peace...also use my office and library in peace...I used to read a lot...but, yeah, I now have too much time on my hands because filling my time with the things I like and used to do is impossible now, thanks to you and your barking fucking dog.
NO ONE LIKES YOU; ditto, and no one likes your dog either thanks to your negligence. He probably could have been a nice, affable dog if he lived with someone who took the time to teach him good manners.
GET EAR PLUGS. I have ear plugs that I wear when I'm mowing the grass... but I can't wear them 24 fucking hours a day...

By the way, last night Harley was barking from 12:08 a.m. until 1:44 a.m. Then the idiots finally went out and locked him up. That's nice.

How Long is Too Long...

Update: I talked to my other neighbor's and they said their dog died in the early winter of 2007. That means Harley arrived as a puppy during the summer of 2007...

I've been trying to figure out how old the Annoying One is, because this will tell me how long I've been forced to listen to his barking and just when I began to slide toward the edge of noise trauma darkness.

Harley was just a wee pup of about 2-3 months when they first brought home the bundle of joy...and he was already indulging in psycho barking although he was much cuter then...visually that is; make no mistakes here - the horrendous sound that comes out of that Schnoodle was never even close to being cute, even back then. I know my neighbors well enough to know they have no dog training skills...and I know that they have no clue that they have no clue...and I knew immediately that I was in BIG trouble and began trying to calculate how long Harley would live...and if I could survive that long.

I know they didn't have him when my very first cat died on November 2, 2005, they didn't have him when I got my shelter cat in December of 2005, and I know they didn't have Harley when my other neighbor's dog died, but I'm having difficulty remembering if she died in 2006 or 2007. I just remember it was a cold and misty day, so it was either late winter/early spring or late fall/early winter. She had been tethered in their yard for about 6 years...a very sad affair and another story for another blog...and I remember my relief at her death was short lived because next thing I knew my other lovely neighbors came home from the beach with Harley. Yea. That was in the Summer of either '06 or '07.

So maybe it hasn't been 4 years that I've been being barked at. Maybe it's only been 3ish. What also makes it difficult to remember, even though the Annoyance started right in immediately, on day one, with his annoying ruckus, was that in the beginning Harley was inside quite often and so I was not always assaulted like I was later on and am now, although, believe me, if he was outside we all knew about it.

So, despite what one of Harley's humans told me when I asked him last fall how old Harley was (he said about 6 but I knew that was not true...let's refer back to Dr. Mixon's noise trauma chart about the thinking process), Harley is getting close to either 3 or 4 years old.

Either way, this barking business has been going on too long. My advice, for what it's worth in my completely batty, nervous wreck, anxiety ridden state, to anyone who has just begun to have a barking neighbor - don't wait, nip it in the bud, don't wait thinking the humans will quiet the dog because they won't, don't keep quiet so as to not ruin the neighborly relationship because if your neighbors allow their dog to disrupt your life the neighborly relationship is non existant anyway, and the longer you wait the more stressed out you'll get, and you'll become as wacked out and miserable as Yours Truly.

I Love the Rainy Days...

Today was an excellent day - cold & rainy! Why??? you say. Because on days like this Harley is not out their psycho barking. In fact, if he was always as quiet as he is on cold, rainy days, I could live with it and probably not be as deranged and batty as I am. Ok, ok, that's debatable but I'd be willing to bet on it.

I used to think that his people let him come inside on rainy days, but no such luck for the irritant. I heard a few feeble attempts at barking after I came home around noon (and by the way he did not yap once when I left this morning which is a rare treat) and later looked out of an upstairs window to see him wandering around his yard, soaking wet. According to Google the high today was 55 and the low will be 34. My cat stayed inside today, and when it's wet and this cold I even make my outside cat come in, but poor Harley is all wet and out in the cold. As much as I despise Harley's barking, I despise his people more for being so negligent and  insensitive to his requirements and comfort. After all, it is their own fault that Harley and his buddy, the Quiet One (actually her name is Cherokee...but she doesn't like that name...hell I don't think either of them know their names anyway), lack good house manners, and poor Harley is the type of dog that really needs to be with his people rather than in exile.

This is also the first day for a while that I haven't been walking around outside with my mobile phone in one hand to make these repulsive videos of Harley barking while trying to do something else at the same time. I have a nice camera that makes great videos, much better than the cell phone, but having that ball and chain around my neck while trying to do other things would be rediculous so I just keep making really lousy videos of Harley's barking with my cell phone. However, it is the sound I'm after and that come through loud and clear and spot on.

As a special treat for anyone visting Barking Mad, I've now made an accompanying blog called Barking Mad Videos (I know, I know, not very original but hey, remember the signs and symptoms chart about the reduced brain function). The star, of course, is my most despised and biggest irritant (second only to his humans), and you can click Harley's photo at the right to see these videos. I know, you can hardly wait. Yea, you say.

Another Barking Mad Video

I seem to spend any time outside doing whatever I'm doing with one hand and my cell phone in the other hand making videos of the yapper. This doesn't make for a very pleasing visual, but the sound is loud an clear. Here's another one I made a few days ago. I'm going out behind the garage to feed a semi-feral cat that I take care of (yes, he's neutered and vaccinated). This cat always hides in the brush on the neighboring vacant lot behind Harley's yard, and Harley can't seem him so he is not barking at the cat, he's barking at Yours Truly as usual. The barking gets more frantic toward the end, and that is the type of barking I endured most of last year when I stepped outside.



It never fails. As soon as the idiot hears me he comes charging to the fence, barking. Sometimes its like a bark a second, sometimes more or less, but it's always bark bark bark rahrahrahrah...

Harley's bark seems to be of a particularly annoying nature. There's something about the sound of his personal bark that is a serious, almost violent, assault on the audio nerves. It's sharp, cuts through the atmosphere like a knife, and echoes across my yard, across the parking lot and field behind my other neighbors' yard, bounces off the brick church on the corner, and proceeds to travel back and forth like this. But I'm sure I'd be equally batty if the tone and octave of his bark was of another nature...say a deep woof woof...since it's just so psychotic and neurotic and frequent.

Sadly, I keep hoping Harley will bark himself to death. I'll tell ya, if I screamed and yelled to the extent that Harley barks I'd surely drop dead.

3 Barking Mad Videos

This first one is a lousy video made with my mobile phone about a month ago, but the sound is loud, clear and exactly what I hear every time I step out of my back door. I have not enhanced the sound. This is really what it's like. During the making of this video Harley could not see me or my cat. My neighbor often blames my cat, but the cat is usually out of Harley's sight, or inside.

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I made this second video, below, while inside my house when the back door was open. Needless to say, I have not had my doors or windows open very often or for very long the last few years. I opened the back door this morning for some fresh air and because it wasn't so cold, and apparently the dog heard my cats playing by the open door and started barking. One cat was wearing her collar (with bell & tags) because I had taken her for a walk on her harness and leash in the yard. We were't out very long and had to come back in because the idiot was barking so much. Even my cats can't enjoy thier yard.

I'm standing in the kitchen, then walk to the back door, and at the end of the video the barking stops so someone must have come out of the house. We are restoring an old, old house and have not got to the kitchen, back room and out buildings yet, so please excuse the ghetto look. Actually, even if the whole place looked like a palace with royal gardens it would still feel like a ghetto with that damn barking going on. The rest of the house is really nice, totally restored from floor to ceiling on both levels, new wood floors, new staircase...we put a lot of work and money into it, and we plan on finishing this back part of the house in the near future, then starting on the out buildings. That was before this barking got so bad; at this point in time I'd really rather just leave it all and move. Unfortunately I doubt anyone would want to buy it now...

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The next video was made yesterday outdoors but this  is nothing like what I endured during the spring, summer & fall last year; he doesn't bark so much when I come near the fence. Last year was mind boggling. It was excruciating. You can hear how annoying and painful the sound of his bark is - it's so loud and piercing that it echoes. I had to listen to this every second I was outside in 2009. It hurt to the soul.

Notice the Quiet One off to the left. Oddly enough, when the Annoying One is barking the Quiet One will often jump on him...almost as if she's telling him to shut the fuck up.